Mr. Lodge takes Veronica and her friends off to an Archeological Expedition on their summer vacation. While this isn’t exactly the sort of summer vacation they had planned, the crew quickly learns to make the best of it, as Jughead finds the catering table and Archie finds the young college lasses working on the dig. Dilton, of course, is ever the scientist, and soon makes a discovery that tosses everything into upheaval.

Interesting issue. Tom DeFalco really does have the voices of these characters down, and he plays with their vices just as you would expect. The whole “lost land” concept isn’t original at all, but that’s okay. Archie adventure stories have never really been about breaking new ground, but about giving an Archie twist to an established story type. The book has moments of excitement mixed in with the comedy, and that’s all good. The new character Raj is fun, and works with the rest of the gang. It does seem a little pandering, though, to find a “lost tribe” in the center of the Earth that happens to be perfectly ethnically diverse. Come on, guys, I know there’s a mandate to make the world of Archie more multicultural, and that’s all well and good, but this just strains credulity too much.

Despite that, it’s a fun issue, and I very much like Archie’s new cover treatment. It’s a classic look that works for the characters – giving an old-school flavor to the book while still allowing room for modern art on the covers. Nice.